Well, no, because humans didn't design the laws of physics, but we did design the power grid. There is nothing inherent about power grids that means they have to be arranged like rows of dominoes.
The only way to make the Grid more reliable is Distributed Generation. Think one generator/fuel cell/etc. per household or business.
We already have distributed generation, as compared to the affected area, but that didn't help. And breaking up the system into finer divisions isn't the only way to do it.